2024 Kiwi County Tour: Nathan Smith In A Groove With Worcestershire
Nathan Smith is leading the Kiwi County Tour with runs and wickets for Worcestershire as he continues to flex as one of Aotearoa's best emerging cricketers. Tom Bruce and Will Williams had mellow outings for Lancashire, while Blair Tickner took a couple wickets for Derbyshire as all three teams involved in the Kiwi County Tour had draws.
As always with English cricket they are stressing about the state of the game and whether they are pondering grand ideas or undertaking wide-ranging reviews, English cricket comes with a severe dose of anxiety. Three draws in the KCT fit into this as most games in County Championship's two divisions have been draws and this coincides with use of the Kookaburra ball.
Don't worry about the nitty-gritty of English cricket though as Smith is cruising after an excellent Plunket Shield campaign. Smith took 3w @ 3rpo and then scored 58 runs batting eight, followed by 4w @ 2.6rpo in Worcestershire's draw with Nottinghamshire. After two games, Smith has 62 runs @ 31avg and 10w @ 14avg/2.6rpo as the leading wicket-taker for Worcestershire.
Smith is also the only Worcs bowler averaging below 25 and is one of five bowlers in Division One with 10+ wickets. Keep in mind that this mahi comes after Smith won the Plunket Shield with Wellington, averaging 24 with the bat and 17 with the ball. Across his last five games which includes three Plunket Shield games and two County outings, Smith has taken 3+ wickets in five out of eight innings.
Smith has taken at least a wicket in seven of these eight innings, as well as putting up two 50+ scores in his six batting innings. Heading into his third County Championship game, Smith has a First-Class batting average of 26.77 and a bowling average of 25.96.
Lancashire had a draw with Hampshire and Bruce got a duck, while Williams took 2w @ 2.5rpo then 2w @ 2.6rpo. Bruce has scores of 17 and 0 in his two innings. Williams is Lancashire's best bowler after two games, taking 4w @ 19avg/2.5rpo as the only Lancashire bowler averaging below 30.
Tickner took 2w @ 4rpo and didn't take a wicket in the second innings (2.7rpo) as Derbyshire and Glamorgan played out their draw. This was Derbyshire's first game and Tickner has 2w @ 53avg/3.3rpo after 32 overs of bowling. Including his last four games of Plunket Shield, Tickner has 2+ wickets in six of nine innings and he is now in a Derbyshire bowling unit that has one bloke with 12w and no other bowler with more than 2w.
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